Research Seminar in German Literature

lgerm2862  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

Research Seminar in German Literature
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
5 credits
15.0 h
Q1

This biannual learning unit is being organized in 2019-2020
Teacher(s)
Büssgen Antje;
Language
Deutsch
Prerequisites
To have successfully followed the courses on the history of German literature in the Bachelor, and to show a strong interest in this area of research.
Main themes
The content of the seminar depends on the research carried out in the unit and the licence dissertations undertaken by the students; it thus changes every year.
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 To give the students a chance to participate in a collective research project, to integrate a personal research project in this methodological framework, possibly in connection with the realisation of their master dissertation and other research activities.
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Content
This seminar focuses on methodological questions for conduction research in literary studies with a view to the different challenges a master's dissertation can present.
In 2017/2018, the thematic focus of the seminar is the following: 'Europe as seen by writers: the construction of Europe as a peace project'. Since the so-called 'Kunstperiode' (around 1800), German-speaking intellectuals developed a view of a politically and culturally unified Europe in order to secure lasting peace. The development of the EU after World War II is without a doubt the outcome of those intellectual reflections and projects ¬' most often presented in the form of essays. Nowadays, the EU is once again in the centre of a large public debate due to the political and social crises in Europe. Diverging positions range from a complete rejection claiming the return of the nation state (like the 'Brexit') to the request to create an entirely new form of European politics in form a republic (Ulrike Guérot : Warum Europa eine Republik werden muss. Eine politische Utopie, 2015).
We will read a series of essays written by writers and philosophers who contributed to the discourse of a united Europe in the 20th and 21st century (e.g. Stefan Zweig and Robert Menasse). In 2017, Austrian writer Robert Menasse published a novel dealing with the European Union in times of crisis (« Die Hauptstadt », Suhrkamp 2017). The plot takes place in the European institutions in Brussels. The analysis of this novel will conclude the readings for this seminar.
Evaluation methods
Continuous assessment of each student's participation in the seminar, completed by an assessment of the essay drawn from the results of the seminar.
Bibliography
Stefan Zweig: Einigung Europas [1933]. Hrsg. von Klemens Renoldner, Tartin Editionen 2013.
Ders.: Die Welt von Gestern. Erinnnerungen eines Europäers [1942]. Hrsg. von Kurt Beck, Fischer: Frankfurt a.M, div. Auflagen.. 
Robert Menasse: Die Hauptstadt. Roman. Berlin: Suhrkamp 2016.
Une bibliographie détaillée sera diffusée au séminaire.
Faculty or entity
LMOD


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : General

Master [120] in Modern Languages and Literatures : German, Dutch and English